What this signifies is anyone’s guess. Most perplexing of all are the grass skirts. Native Americans didn’t wear them and Polynesia is pretty far away.

Community Preservation Committee Chairman Bill Keohan smiles, noting that the grass skirts were added to the seal during the Victorian Era when the powers that be, whoever they were, decided that nudity in a town seal wasn’t proper. The grass skirts made more sense, apparently, even though they don’t make sense at all.

The piece of humorous history is intriguing for Keohan, whose committee is preserving artifacts like stained glass windows from the old Registry of Deeds building – windows that bear that seal – as well as chandeliers and an E.H. Howard gallery clock from the 1820 Courthouse. The stained glass will find its way into the new Town Hall, and the other pieces of Plymouth’s history will be rehung in their original places once the restoration is complete.

“We don’t know what the Native Americans are doing holding up a burning heart, either,” Keohan added. “It’s possibly a representation of Christianity. We don’t know what it means.”

The stained glass with the seal was created sometime around 1904 when the old Registry of Deeds building was built. In those days, Plymouth County and the town had the same seal. In the 1930s, the county opted to differentiate its seal from America’s Hometown, and the Native Americans, their grass skirts and the burning hearts were left for Plymouth. The one thing that does make sense is the Cross of St. George in the seal, representing England, Keohan said.

Rick Vayo of MEGRYCO, the company that bought the old Registry and renovated it into a condominium complex, gave the stained glass windows to the CPC. The committee has used $11,000 in CPA funds to restore these windows, the gallery clock and the chandeliers, which have been transformed from grubby grey back to their bright brass finish. Yankee Craftsman of Wayland is performing this work, while David Berman of Trustworth Studios restores the gold leaf clock.

Berman gestured to the now-golden frame of the clock in his Plymouth studio, noting that he removed dark radiator paint from its surface to reveal the gold leaf below. He turned to the clock face, which is his next project.

“This is the face and this will be touched up and repainted so that it will read more clearly,” Berman said. “What’s on here now is water soluble. This clock is called an E. Howard Gallery clock and it was made well. I have every reason to believe it was new when installed in 1882.”

And while these projects are undertaken, granite reclaimed from the 1820 Courthouse is being used for new benches along Water Street, Keohan said, as another way to preserve Plymouth’s history and precious materials from the past.

“As the Town Hall moves toward completion, the CPC has been continuing to restore reclaimed materials and artifacts from the original complex making up the Registry of Deeds and the 1820 Courthouse,” Keohan said. “The restored stained glass has exceeded expectations. It’s stunning, and it will enhance the new Town Hall.”

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
Wicked Local Plymouth ~ 182 Standish Avenue, Plymouth, MA 02360 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service